Trunk-fastener.



No. 745,061. PATENTED NOV. 24, 1908. J. S. ISIDOR. TRUNK FASTENER.

APRLIOATION FILED SEPT. 10, 1902.

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UNITED STATES Patented November 24, 1903.

JOSEPH S. ISIDOR, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

TRUNK-FASTENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 745,061, dated November 24, 1903.

Application filed September 10,1902. Serial No. 122,789. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

zen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trunk-Fasteners; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to numerals of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Thisinvention relatesto that classof catches which are employed most generally upon the front of trunks to supplement the look at the middle in holding the trunk closed; and the objects of the-invention are to secure such a catch which will lock automatically upon closing the trunk; to obviate the necessity for closing said catches by hand and the attendant danger of forgetting to close them, and thus shipping the trunk in partially-locked condition; to secure a simple and cheap construction which can be adapted to the form of catch now in use, and to obtain other advantages and results, some of which may be hereinafter referred to in connection with the description of the device.

The invention consists in the improved trunk-catch and in the arrangements and combinations of parts of the same, all substantially as will be hereinafter set forth and finally embraced in the clauses of the claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of the several figures, Figure l is a front view of my improved catch on a trunk in the act of closing, aportion of the case of the same being broken away to show the working parts more clearly. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section on line .90 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the catch in locked position.

In said drawings, 2 indicates the body portion, and 3 the cover, of a trunk, to which. for purposes of illustration I have shown my improved catch applied. The catch comprises cooperating male and female members attached one to each section of the trunk and being in general form of any ordinary style on the market. The female member 4 comprises a plate 5, screwed or riveted to the trunk, as at 6, and presenting at its upper edge sockets 7 7 and a middle recess 8. Upon the lower part of said plate 5 is a transversely-fulcrumed hasp 9, adapted to be swung upward to lie at its upper end in the said recess 8, before referred to, the said hasp being preferably fulcrumed between the plate 5 and a case 10 secured thereto and extending through an aperture 11 in the end of the hasp.

The male member of the catch comprises a plate 12, adapted to be secured by rivets 13 to the cover portion of the trunk and having atits lower edge dowel projections 14., adapted to enter the sockets 77 in the femalememher, and having between said projections a tongue 15, adapted to lie in the middle recess 8 ofthe female member, with a forwardlyextending hook projection 16 thereon.

Heretofore it has been common when the two members of the catch have been brought together as described to throw up the hasp 9 by hand, an aperture 17 in the end of said hasp receiving the hook projection 16 on the end of the tongue. 15.

The present invention is more particularly intended to provide means for automatically throwing up the said hasp when the catch members are brought into connection, and preferably this is done by the specific means next to be described. Upon the front of the plate 5 of the female member of the catch is fulcrumed a lever 18 flatwise thereon and adapted to swing parallel to the trunk-front. The upper end or arm 19 of said lever projects into the recess 8, before described, and has an inclined edge 20, normally lying in the path of the tongue 15 on the male catch member. The lower end of said lever 18 projects downward into the case 10 and terminates near the fulcrumal axis of the hasp 9 in a lateral extension having an undercut beveled end 21. Upon the said fulcrumal axis of the hasp is a fixed arm or cam 22, having an end beveled oppositely from the lever end 21, said arm or cam being so placed upon the axis of the hasp that its said beveled end 23 engages the beveled-end 21 on lever 18, when said lever is tipped outwardly downward in unlocking and snaps past the same to lie behind it. This prevents the hasp being thrown upward into lockingposition by its actuatingspring 24 upon the fulcrumal axis for that purpose and holds the hasp in unlocked position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The lever 18 is normally held in its position to engage the cam on the hasp, as described, by a spiral spring 25, attached at one end to the lever and at the other end to a fixed portion of the catch member, but still permitting displacement by the cam.

When the trunk is closed, the tongue enters the recess 8 and presses sidewise upon the inclined edge 20 of the upper arm 19 of the lever 18, as shown in Fig. 1, thus swinging said lever against the power of the spring and throwing its lower end 21 clear of the cam, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the spring 24 may exert its power to throw the hasp 9 upward into locking position. By this it will be seen that it is necessary only to shut the trunk-cover, when the catches of my improved construction will immediately lock, and when it is desired to again open the trunk the hasps of said catches are simply tipped outward by the hand, as has been common heretofore, being then retained in such position by the cam 22 and lever 18, until the trunk is again closed.

The lever 18 is preferably concaved toward the front in edge view and adapted to rock slightly in a direction at rightangles to the plane in which it swings. This causes the upper end of the lever when the lower is pressed backward by the cam 22 to stand forwardly outward from the plate 5 and lie in the path of the tongue 15. When the trunk is closed and the cam released, said upper end of the lever may thus lie close against the plate 5 and in behind the tongue 15.

Obviously, however, many modifications may be made in the detail construction described without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention,'and I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself by the positive descriptive terms used except as the state of the art may require.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is 1. In a trunk-bolt, a male member having a hooked tongue, a female member having a pivotal hasp adapted to engage said tongue,

the said tongue, and a spring for swinging said lever in the other direction.

2. The combination, in a trunk-bolt, with a lower member having a locking-hasp adapted to be turned downwardly outward, and an upper member having a tongue adapted to be engaged by said hasp, of a spring always tending to throw said hasp into locking position, a cam on the fulcrumed axis of the said hasp, and a pivoted lever adapted at one end to engage said cam, and the other end to be engaged by the said tongue on the upper member.

3. In a. trunk-bolt, cooperating male and female members, one having a hasp pivoted thereon and adapted to turn outward away from the other member and said other member having a tongue adapted to overreach the first said member and be engaged by said hasp, of a coiled spring on the fulcrumal axis of the said hasp and always tending to throw same into locking position, a beveled cam on said fulcrumal axis, a lever pivoted upon the same member to swing parallel to the plane thereof and having its lower end beveled to permit the cam of said hasp to pass as the hasp is opened and having at its upper end an inclined edge adapted to be engaged by the tongue of the other member.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 9th day of September, 1902.

JOSEPH S. ISIDOR.

Witnesses:

CHARLES H. PELL, O. B. PITNEY. 

